​"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

in this land of 'Christians', there seems to be something that we don't understand about the teachings of Jesus - how can we have $700 Billion Dollars in our budget for murdering people around the globe and we don't have money to help those among us who need help. What did Jesus mean when he said, "Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself."

It appears that some sort of line has been crossed. It is difficult to know what line that was. What is worth what and what factors contribute to the evaluation?

Art is one of human-kind's highest achievements. Art is an expression of creative skill and imagination. Typically we think of art in a visual form - painting or sculpture, but it includes music, literature, and dance. The artist draws on experience, study and observation applied to aesthetic guidelines and creates works to be appreciated for their beauty and/or emotional power. The result contains extraordinary meaning.

Does the extraordinary meaning equal extraordinary monetary value? How does the 'value' of art compare with other values within the human sphere? What is the value of a human life?

Is it appropriate to wonder why a painting would be worth $44 million dollars as was recently paid for “Onement VI”? To the average person on the street, the painting appears to be something that they themselves could have done with a couple of cans of paint from the hardware store.

Is it inappropriate to think that $44 million dollars would feed a whole lot of starving people in the world... in the United States?

Do the people engaged in the sale and purchase of 'art' have so much money that they simply don't know what to do with it? Do they need suggestions? Are they blind to the realities of the world and to the plight of 'ordinary' people?

Is a da Vinci worth $450 million dollars? What is the value of a fake da Vinci? What 'real' good could be done with that amount of money?

Is Paul Newman's wristwatch worth $17.8 million dollars? Does the watch even keep time? Does it matter?

The advisor of art at Citi Private Bank said, “The speculative element is returning to the market”. What does that mean? Is the art market nothing more than the 'greater fool theory'?

As stated, art appeals to the emotions as well as to the aesthetic. Millions and millions of dollars also have an effect on the emotions. If feels as if some sort of line has been crossed. It feels like we are dependent on the next 'fool' stepping forward. It feels like we have lost track of the value of human community and human well-being. It feels like... ... and, that's the truth !!!

"Onement-VI" by Barnett Newman -- —Newman overwhelms and seduces the viewer with the totality of its sensual, cascading washes of vibrant blue coexisting with Newman’s vertical “Sign” of the human presence, his iconic and revolutionary “zip.” – Sotheby’s description

CROSSING THE LINE: A bidder plunked down nearly $44M for this simple, or simplistic, Barnett Newman canvas. An abstract painting by New York artist Barnett Newman that features a field of blue paint crossed by a ragged white line sold last night for $43.8 million — more than most Manhattan penthouses — to conclude abidding war at Sotheby’s.

Previously owned by Microsft co-founder Paul Allen, the work was bought by an unidentified bidder over the phone.

The nearly $44 million price tag for “Onement VI” — which looks like a canvas version of the video game Pong — surpassed the estimated $30 million to $40 million price.

“The speculative element is returning to the market,” said Jonathan Binstock, senior adviser in postwar and contemporary art at Citi Private Bank. “There’s more money to spend on riskier opportunities, ones that would have seemed unappealing just a few years prior.”​Newman is said to be influenced by other abstract expressionists such as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Frank Stella.

If experience counts for something, Barnett Newman worked a lifetime at his art. The 'art world' appreciates his achievements.

Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?, 1966. Typical of Newman's later work, with the use of pure and vibrant color.

Onement 1, 1948. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The first example of Newman using the so-called "zip" to define the spatial structure of his paintings

Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters. His paintings are existential in tone and content, explicitly composed with the intention of communicating a sense of locality, presence, and contingency.

​“I hope that my painting has the impact of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, of his own individuality.”– Barnett Newman

​“Any art worthy of its name should address ‘life’, ‘man’, ‘nature’, ‘death’ and ‘tragedy’.”– Barnett Newman

​Not all of us are 'on the same page' In an article entitled "The Artist as Con Man", TD responds to Barnett Newman's explanation. "Mr. Barnett, excuse me, I think you forgot to add the word “pretense” to your list."

A painting of Christ by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci sold for a record $450 million at auction on Wednesday, smashing previous records for artworks sold at auction or privately.

The painting, called "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World," is one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo known to exist and the only one in private hands.

"'Salvator Mundi' is a painting of the most iconic figure in the world by the most important artist of all time," said Loic Gouzer, co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's. "The opportunity to bring this masterpiece to the market is an honor that comes around once in a lifetime."

The 26-inch-tall Leonardo painting dates from around 1500 and shows Christ dressed in Renaissance-style robes, his right hand raised in blessing as his left hand holds a crystal sphere.

Once owned by King Charles I of England, the painting disappeared from view until 1900, when it resurfaced and was acquired by a British collector. At that time it was attributed to a Leonardo disciple, rather than to the master himself.

The painting was sold again in 1958 and then was acquired in 2005, badly damaged and partly painted-over, by a consortium of art dealers who paid less than $10,000. The art dealers restored the painting and documented its authenticity as a work by Leonardo.

Christie's said most scholars agree that the painting is by Leonardo, though some critics have questioned the attribution and some say the extensive restoration muddies the work's authorship.

The painting doesn't obey the laws of physics in a crucial way that's uncharacteristic of da Vinci. The flaw has led some historians to question the painting's authenticity. Defenders say he did it on purpose.

A major flaw in the painting — which is the only one of da Vinci's that remains in private hands — makes some historians think it's a fake. The crystal orb in the image doesn't distort light in the way that natural physics does, which would be an unusual error for da Vinci.

It appears to be a rookie mistake.Da Vinci painted the portrait — of Jesus Christ dressed in Renaissaince Era clothing, crossing his fingers in one hand and holding a crystal orb in the other — around the year 1500. After being bought and sold a few times, the painting was lost to history.

But the glass orb raises some doubts about the painting's authenticity. It's especially puzzling, writes Walter Isaacson in his biography of the artist, because da Vinci was famously fastidious about the reflection and refraction of light in his work. At the time he made "Salvator Mundi," he was "deep into his optics studies" and filled his notebooks with diagrams of light bouncing at different angles, according to The Guardian.

"Solid glass or crystal, whether shaped like an orb or a lens, produces magnified, inverted, and reversed images," Isaacson writes. "Instead, Leonardo painted the orb as if it were a hollow glass bubble that does not refract or distort the light passing through it."​While the painting was widely confirmed as a da Vinci in 2011, some scholars have suggested that "Salvator Mundi" was a product of da Vinci's workshop, or was made by another follower without the master's talent.​ArtWatch UK director Michael Daley told The Guardian that there wasn't enough evidence to prove the painting's authenticity. "The Salvator Mundi is dead-pan flat, like an icon, with no real depth in the modeling," Daley said. "Another unexplained peculiarity is that the figure itself is heavily and uncharacteristically cropped."

Paul Newman’s watch sold for $17.8 million. The watch was given to Newman by his wife, Joanne Woodward, with the engraving “DRIVE CAREFULLY ME.” Newman apparently loved the watch so much that he gave it to his daughter’s college boyfriend James Cox.

For more information, readFortune 'The Most Iconic Wristwatch of the 20th Century.' Paul Newman's Rolex Just Sold for a Ton of Money.